Some are calling this the third tale in Kwak's "Romcom Trilogy," (MSG and Windstrck being the first two) and judging from his previous works, such a statement would not be miisplaced. At times, I felt like I was watching "Kwak's Greatest Hits." Cute girl meets a guy "out of his league"? Check. Time travel or supernatural elements? Check. Awkward meeting turns to budding romance? Check. Plot twist at the end? Three checks! Needless to say, if you are not a fan of the rom-com genre, especially Kwak's brand, then avoid this movie at all costs. As for me, I happen to find the genre mildly entertaining, so I decided to pick this one up. That, and I'm an absolutely huge Haruka Ayase fan.

The film begins in Nov. 22, 2008, where Jiro (Koide) is spending his birthday by buying himself a present as per his personal tradition and reminiscing about his chance meeting with a strange girl (Ayase) exactly one year ago. We flashback to 2007, where a girl in futuristic attire (anime fans will get a kick out of the numerous homages to "Neo Genesis Evangelion" that pepper the film) seeks out Jiro in stalkerish fashion. She follows him to his favorite restaurant, orders a ton of food, skips out on the bill, and drags him along as they are getting chased by the cops. Like Cinderella, her time is short, and she has to go. Giving him a heart-felt goodbye she leaves. He also waves goodbye, but oddly enough he's crying, and he feels like he knows her from somewhere before...

Back to the "present" of 2008 and Jiro again goes to his favorite restaurant. Miraculously, "the girl" (actually... WTH is it with Kwak and nameless female heroines?!) reappears but this time, she acts more robot-like. He notices she's different as well, but luckily for him, her robotic strength saves him from a psychotic patron who pulls out a machine gun and goes ballistic. The Girl beats up the gunman with ease, and the two go back to his house, where she reveals her secret. She is a cyborg sent by his future self (60+ yrs into the future) to save him from that shooting incident. Unfortunately, his future self says, that because he has altered the time stream, he may now suffer an even greater danger, but that she will help him and keep him from harm.

The rest of the film we see Jiro teaching the cyborg how to be more human. In the meanwhile, she saves him from a variety of calamities and performs some heroics in saving kids and people from cars, fires, knife wielding psychos, etc. Like My Sassy Girl before it, the two are put in a situation of being together but not being in love. In time, though, Jiro slowly falls for her. But whereas in MSG, the girl's feelings could not be returned because of a scarred past, the girl in this film cannot return his feelings because she is simply incapable of it. (She's not programmed for it). Her inability to love or even feel for him frustrates Jiro, and he attempts to "make her jealous" by talking with another girl. She reacts angrily, and Jiro says she's jealous. He's sick of her and says he never wants to see her again.

The girl disappears from his life. Stuff goes back to normal. However, he starts seeing things that make him think she's still around. Then disaster strikes. The warning his future self hinted at comes true!

Overall, the movie was more methodical and slower paced than MSG, though it really picks up in the end. It was episodic and kind of had an uneven start-and-stop pacing (again like MSG). The conclusion isn't the "great revelation" that hits you all at once like MSG does, simply because you know the setup from the start. Instead, it's more like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. You know WHAT happens in the beginning. but by the end you know WHY. And just when you think you have it solved, Kwak throws in one final curve ball for the heck of it.

If you think about it, this is VERY SIMILAR to the inner story in MSG, with the girl writing the terrible Terminator rip off of a script, where the super strong girl saves her inept boyfriend from danger. I imagine Kwak was developing this story for a while and only now has gotten around to actually doing it. This film breaks no new ground for the director or the genre, but it is a worthy successor to his earlier films and worth watching.

Thanks for the review! I'll make a note to watch this when I get the chance. Heh, I thought you were referring to "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK" at first, which I watched a couple of months ago.

I didn't like Windstruck very much, and I don't really remember why. I just re-read the Wikipedia summary to refresh my memory, and I think it was that I had a set of expectations after MSG and it didn't live up to it. It was too cheesy and didn't have the same... magic, for lack of a better word.

Did you watch Windstruck? What did you think of it, and how did it compare to MSG and to this movie?

Oh cool. I'll be sure to take a look at it as well.
I actually liked Windstruck more than I did MSG because MSG was just a little too 'normal' to me. Then again, it's been years and I don't remember anything I LIKED about Windstruck, so it may be moot now with changing tastes and such.

Summer popcorn flick in the middle of winter, I guess. Wasn't spectacular, but wasn't horrible either. Not sure it was worth the 9 bucks. Weak plot, kind of talky, a little ridiculous at times. Most recognizable person in the movie was Dakota Fanning, but the other actors were charming enough, I suppose.

I don't think I'd really recommend it as a "go-see" kind of movie, but if you're bored and it comes out on Netflix or something, give it a whirl. I think the best review of this movie I'd read was: "It's pure popcorn, popped fresh, doused in butter and sprinkled with soy sauce."

Stepbrothers -- incoherent but sometimes quite funny, worth it for the punching out of Tom Cruise-lookalike character
Max Payne -- one of the worst movies ever made
Yesman -- Jim Carrey is still funny, but Rhys Darby is fast becoming my favorite man that isn't Stephen Fry. Anyway, enjoyable movie overall
Rambo 3 -- It was on TV, how could I not

I haven't watched many recent movies since early 2008, so what are you guy's/gurl's recommendation for last/this year movies that have been released already ?
mm-bbs tends to have quite a good taste when it comes down to movie recommendations.
Can be anything from hong kong, to european or cuban. (except for anime)

btw, what are the movie you're awating the most this year ?
For me it's Star Trek, as I've become quite a little J.J. Abrams fanboy and really love the Star Trek movies. (especially Generations, which, imho, is the best one)
The new Terminator movie doesn't seem like a really awesome movie, eventhough I really like Christian Bale since the Machinist (ingenious movie) and American Psycho (not ingenious, but a small mindfuck, if you let the movie into your thoughts).
Out of all the not-yet-filmed ones, it's pretty much the Stromberg (german version of The Office) Movie and Cloverfield 2 (see above + I really loved Cloverfield).

Hardboiled! I saw it a billion times already but damn this movie is amazing. The one-shot action sequence in the hospital is absolutely ridiculous and it goes on for something like ten minutes. Just insane. John Woo may be into gargantuan Chinese period pieces now, but to me his best work is early low-budget hong kong stuff.

Hardboiled! I saw it a billion times already but damn this movie is amazing. The one-shot action sequence in the hospital is absolutely ridiculous and it goes on for something like ten minutes. Just insane. John Woo may be into gargantuan Chinese period pieces now, but to me his best work is early low-budget hong kong stuff.

In case you were refering to me... not really 2008 stufff. (maybe pre-21st century even ?) lol

Reality as I know it has been utterly shaken. Dragonball: Evolution was not total shit!

I went as a joke. I was hoping for a crappy B-movie to laugh my ass off at, but it turned out it was actually a fun, passable movie. Not perfect by any means, especially the extremely anti-climactic final battle, but it made the Legend of Chun-Li look like Citizen freakin' Kane.

It's not a movie per se, but I just finished the 1976 BBC mini series "I, Claudius". It's AWESOME.

I thought I wouldn't be able to stand it because the whole thing was really confined and I usually don't like period pieces that's can't develop sets that are realistic. But they were really accurate and it they were able to work with what they had. And the acting was just too good not to look past anything like that.

And the cast is to DIE for. All the lesser British actors whom you've seen or know some connection to at least somewhere. An in it Peter O'Toole's wife of 20 years killed Boss Nass. Colombia and Captain Picard had an affair, and Picard was then killed by Sallah/Gimli. And John Hurt was Caligula and he was awesome. Use what ever other movie reference you want to him. (elephant man/hellboy's dad, etc)

And I've loved Derek Jacobi since I had a little obsession with Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (playing, uh, Claudius. haha.) but I've never really seen him in anything else. But he's just soooo good in this. He's become one of my favorite actors, definitely. <3

Reality as I know it has been utterly shaken. Dragonball: Evolution was not total shit!

I went as a joke. I was hoping for a crappy B-movie to laugh my ass off at, but it turned out it was actually a fun, passable movie. Not perfect by any means, especially the extremely anti-climactic final battle, but it made the Legend of Chun-Li look like Citizen freakin' Kane.

Reality as I know it has been utterly shaken. Dragonball: Evolution was not total shit!

I went as a joke. I was hoping for a crappy B-movie to laugh my ass off at, but it turned out it was actually a fun, passable movie. Not perfect by any means, especially the extremely anti-climactic final battle, but it made the Legend of Chun-Li look like Citizen freakin' Kane.

This disappoints me so. My friends and I have plans to see it late at night to ensure we can make asshole comments through the entire thing. This will be less fun if it's actually decent Oh well, I'm pretty excited regardless.

The last movie I saw was Coraline. It was the hardest time I've ever had separating a book from a movie- when I read Coraline, I had a very, very clear vision of how it should look and feel on film. This was not the film I wanted. It was still a really decent film and I'd probably like it more if I had a greater appreciation for claymation (it's not that I DON'T appreciate it, it's stunning, it's just not my favorite medium). So, I guess, good film but I have to be that person I looooathe and cry about how it wasn't the way *I* thought it should be. I really love that book okay!

I saw Wolverine today with a gal pal.
As a comic book fan, I was disappointed by the inconsistencies throughout the film as well as by the annoying nice-and-tidy resolutions to plot issues.
As a Hugh Jackman fan, I was happily counting each scene in which he was shirtless or naked and enjoying each bit of that.

Yeah surprisingly, Wolverine was pretty good! If you can think of Deadpool as "Anyone-But-Deadpool" then there's not a whole lot of WTF FOX to piss you off. There's still a few story holes though, especially when Logan discovers that the main motivation behind his wanting to kill Victor turns out to be not quite what he thought, and then he STILL wants to kill him. Most of the other problems are small though, like when Gambit breaks up Logan & Victor's alley fight for no apparent reason, but you just kinda go "ehh" and move on.

I especially liked how Logan & Victor's history was dealt with during the opening credits. This was something I saw in trailers & really thought would turn out badly, but it was a smart decision to just blitz through all that as a series of really short scenes. Like there wasn't time to screw it up, haha. I also felt the mutant cameos were handled better than in X3 (but then, what WASN'T handled better than that?) and it was nice to see Cyclops NOT coming across as a dick. More of a pussy boy really, but hey, he's already hooking up with Emma!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by X-Men Origins. Maybe it's due to me not being nearly as familiar with Wolverine's comic history as I am with X-Men in general, so it's possible I may not have noticed glaring character changes. All I know is that Deadpool's supposed to be like Spidey-The-Assassin who never shuts up, and this Weapon XI was no Deadpool. He did have some good moves & put up a good fight, but god damn he looked stupid.

Oh, the post-credits scene at my theater was Wolverine drinking at a japanese bar. When the bartender asks him if he's drinking to forget, he says he's drinking to remember. I know there's another post-credits scene involving "Deadpool", anyone seen the others?

I saw Wolverine today with a gal pal.As a comic book fan, I was disappointed by the inconsistencies throughout the film as well as by the annoying nice-and-tidy resolutions to plot issues.As a Hugh Jackman fan, I was happily counting each scene in which he was shirtless or naked and enjoying each bit of that.

When you're talking about inconsistencies, do you mean "inconsistant with the comic storyline" or just that the movie is inconsistant with itself? I definately want to go see it, but I've heard mixed reviews so I'm trying to decide what I should be prepared for =/

Oh, the post-credits scene at my theater was Wolverine drinking at a japanese bar. When the bartender asks him if he's drinking to forget, he says he's drinking to remember. I know there's another post-credits scene involving "Deadpool", anyone seen the others?

I saw the "Deadpool" one and it just irked me because it just cemented my hunch on how they were pushing the character so much to be that breakout character so he could have a movie of his own.If I remember right, there was a script for a Deadpool movie, starring the same actor who portrayed him in this film, yet something messed up along the way from script to greenlight or something, so it was shelved. This way, the Wolvie movie DOES seem like a sneaky way for it to go back into production.

I saw Wolverine today with a gal pal.As a comic book fan, I was disappointed by the inconsistencies throughout the film as well as by the annoying nice-and-tidy resolutions to plot issues.

When you're talking about inconsistencies, do you mean "inconsistant with the comic storyline" or just that the movie is inconsistant with itself? I definately want to go see it, but I've heard mixed reviews so I'm trying to decide what I should be prepared for =/

There are parts in the plot that seem disconnected or even downright tossed out the window in the movie itself.I don't want to give any spoilers, but it was like characters were either duped much too easily or the writers/editors thought the audience was dumb enough to miss such bits.For example, they seem to use and forget about Logan's incredible sense of smell in every other scene.

For inconsistency with the other X movies, I am trying to remember if Wolvie and Sabertooth ever came in contact with each other in the first film or if they are trying to make Victor a separate character from Sabertooth (they never call him that in this film) to cover their butts.

The comic book inconsistencies were minor and most likely done to get a wider audience (like the whole "Deadpool" thing Geof mentions. I was really hoping for more wisecracking, but it never happened and a minor mutant appearance was a secondary mutation in the comic book and that mutant has absolutely no relation to the character connected to her in the film either).

Just saw Star Trek this afternoon. I left work early with a fellow Trek fan and we went to see it. It was great. D: I like how they tied in the old Trek with this new sparklie action packed Trek without making it feel like OMG this is a remake, WTF!

I kept staring at Zachary Quinto half the time and drooling. Damn he's hot. Even with pointy ears.

I don't know if they should do another one. It sort of felt like, we came full circle now and we don't need anymore. But I'm sure they'll try to squeeze out another one. They always do.

I just got back from Star Trek! THAT WAS AWESOME I know nothing about Star Trek, at all; I wasn't even planning on seeing the movie, but some friends asked me if I wanted to go and I'll watch anything. It was so, so much fun. Everything a fun movie should be, I didn't dislike one thing about it. Also, as a non-Star Trek fan, I got what was going on really well. Though the group of nerds clapping at dumb shit kept me well informed when there was an injoke . . .

I also saw Wolverine recently, which was okay. The script was contrived and annoying, but the action was badass and GAMBIT! And I can't ask for much more out of superhero movies.

In non-theater related movies, I watched Ma Vie En Rose for the first time since I was 16, a French film about a 7-year-old transgendered boy and the way his family reacts to this. It's less brilliant at 22, but still cute as hell! I also watched Dolls (Takeshi Kitano one, there's like 18 films named Dolls), a film about 3 different couples . . . being couples. It's not a plot-based film, per se. It went back and forth between embarrassingly heavy handed and obvious to really, really brilliant. At the very least, it was sooo pretty. I also recently found Cyclo, which is loosely about the Vietnamese underground but is also not so much a plot movie. It has finally given me an answer for "What is your favorite movie?" It's not necessarily the BEST film I've ever seen but it's absolutely fascinating and I want to watch it again and again. And. I watch a lot of movies.

I don't know if they should do another one. It sort of felt like, we came full circle now and we don't need anymore. But I'm sure they'll try to squeeze out another one. They always do.

It's already in the works. Well, sort of. I don't know how much work has actually been done, but J.J. Abrams has already discussed in interviews that they have another on the way. He mentioned kind of wanting to pass it off to a new director because he'd already had his time with it, but also kind of wanting to do it again because he's attached to it now.

I went and saw it Saturday and loved it. Wow Chris Pine is hot. I was really surprised at how well each person fit their role and how you could just picture them transforming into the original actors. Maybe not as much with Sulu and Uhura, but neither of those characters were ever developed that much in the original series anyway. It was really nice how they brought in a lot of the famous lines without making it corny, and I was pleasantly surprised at the level of Leonard Nimoy's involvement.

Vaguely spoilerish comment:I remember one person coming out of the theater and going "Well that just fucked up the Star Trek timeline forever" but...that's kind of a good thing. It allows the series to grow and continue without completely erasing what was already there. This way we don't have to keep killing people off every time they get too old to continue in the role BRENT SPINER ;_;

But yes, I get your point & agree that there was nothing right about "Deadpool." I'm pretty damn puzzled at what they're planning to do with his spin-off movie though. And as much as I like Gambit, I have no desire to see this Gambit in his own spin-off.

Anyway, saw Star Trek a week ago & really dug it. I'm REALLY digging reading all the nerds bitch about alternate reality this & parallel universe that & how they all seem to have issues with changes in a continuity that doesn't actually exist yet in this movie world. But really, good movie.

And TONIGHT I watched Role Models, which was awesome. Ronnie is my new hero, I want to be just like him when I grow up.

Wolverine, IMHO, was pure unadulterated shit. I thought it was a joke. I have pretty much given up on ALL X-Men movies. For me, only X2 reached that "Damn, this is a good movie" level. X1 was above average, X3 total shit. Actually MARVEL, for the most part, has been hit-or-miss on their movies. Spiderman is 2 for 3 on good movies. The last one was trash. HULK is 1 for 2. Iron Man was outstanding. The other series were kinda "meh." I have no desire to see any Wolverine or Deadpool movies ever again. It's just that fucking bad. I don't give a shit anymore, period.

Now, onto something awesome - Star Trek. I knew of the old series and its characters but was never into it. I kind of knew the characters' stereotypes, though, and this one thankfully got rid of nearly all of them. Bones and Scotty were pretty much the only cut outs of their original incarnations (well... old Spock, too...for obvious reasons). There was actually some depth in these characters now. Kirk was still kind of a dick, but he wasn't right all the time. Spock finally showed some emotion. Uhura just wasn't eye candy, and Sulu was kind of a bad ass. My only problem was that they kind of solved the Romulan threat a bit too easy, IMHO. But if you take the view that this is just setting the table for more movies, than indeed, this is an excellent "Part 1."

Tomorrow, I'm gonna see T4. (Yeah, I know it's not called that but fuck off studios, this is the 4th Terminator movie, so it is fucking Terminator 4). I had GRAVE misgivings about this movie when I first heard about it. T3 was subpar, and then T4 wasn't even gonna have Arnold (and Terminator IS ARNOLD up to this point) so I thought "WTF?! This is gonna suck." Seriously, I even forgot this movie was gonna come out so soon until Christian Bale acted like a total bitch and freaked out at that guy backstage. That was probably the best thing to happen to this movie to put it back on the radar! Anyway, the previews look good, so we'll see.

BTW, is anyone interested in UP? It seems like the most random whacky ass Pixar movie, ever! A little Asian kid boyscout, and and grumpy old man...in a floating house... going around the world. How the fuck did they even pitch that movie?! Regardless, I think it will be good. I think the "weakness" of the last few Pixar movies was that they were sedate and not "adventures" where the characters went places and did cool things. The last Pixar "adventure" movie was Nemo. Uncoincidentally, that was also their box office peak.

BTW, is anyone interested in UP? It seems like the most random whacky ass Pixar movie, ever! A little Asian kid boyscout, and and grumpy old man...in a floating house... going around the world. How the fuck did they even pitch that movie?! Regardless, I think it will be good. I think the "weakness" of the last few Pixar movies was that they were sedate and not "adventures" where the characters went places and did cool things. The last Pixar "adventure" movie was Nemo. Uncoincidentally, that was also their box office peak.

The only animated movies I'm really interested in are the Ice Age ones, hopefully part 3 will be good.

Terminator was good, probably the 2nd best episode (T2 still reigns supreme). It was a completely different film, more of a war movie than the cat-and-mouse chase of all previous Terminators. The action was good but not cartoonish and ridiculous like Wolverine. I liked it just as much as Star Trek.